Muscle Loss in Perimenopause: Why It Happens and How Strength Training Helps

I was standing in a Gap fitting room, trying on a pair of jeans, when I caught myself staring at my reflection in the mirror.

All my life I had worked to manage my weight, and I was used to knowing my body, but my shape was simply gone. My butt, which I had worked hard for over many years of consistent training, had disappeared. My arms looked flabby, and even though I was fit, I did not recognize the body looking back at me.

I remember that moment because it was the first time I could not explain what I was seeing. I was panicking. My body did not look or feel like the body I knew. I was just standing there, wondering what the hell happened.

I was still training, but my body was not responding

At the time I was training my clients online every day and working out right alongside them, but that had become my minimum because I did not have the energy to do more. I was tired and anxious, and I did not feel like myself.

But the truth was that perimenopause had already started, and it was taking my muscle away while I was busy looking for other explanations.

What nobody told me about estrogen and muscle

Estrogen does far more than regulate your menstrual cycle. It protects your muscle tissue, supports your muscle fibers, and helps your body respond to exercise.

When estrogen starts to drop during perimenopause, your body becomes less efficient at building and maintaining muscle. This process begins earlier than most women realize, and perimenopause accelerates it significantly once estrogen starts to drop.

The tricky part is that the number on the scale may not change very much, so it is easy to miss what is happening. Your body composition changes, meaning you are losing muscle and gaining fat. The body you see in the mirror may start looking and feeling different even when your weight is similar to what it was before.

Why the workouts that used to work stop working in peri/menopause

I have worked with women for over 30 years, and the most common thing I hear from women in perimenopause is that they are doing everything they used to do and it is not working anymore.

This is not about how hard you work or how disciplined you are. Your hormones have changed, and the training that worked for your body at 35 is not what your body needs at 45 or 50.

Strength training has to become a non-negotiable part of how you move and exercise, not an occasional addition to your routine.

What strength training actually does for you in peri/menopause

Here is what consistent strength training does for you at this stage of life:

●      Muscle mass: It helps you rebuild and maintain the muscle that perimenopause is taking away.

●      Bone density: It supports your bones, which start to weaken when estrogen drops, reducing your risk of fractures.

●      Insulin sensitivity: It helps your body manage blood sugar better, which matters because hormonal changes make it easier to gain fat around the midsection.

●      Metabolism and fat loss: Strength training keeps your metabolism elevated for up to 24 to 48 hours after your workout. And as you build muscle over time, your body burns more calories even at rest, which makes fat loss more sustainable without extreme dieting.

●      Mood, sleep, and energy: All of these tend to suffer during this stage of life, and consistent strength training helps with all of them.

●      Pelvic floor: Most women have never been taught to train their pelvic floor. If it is weak, it can lead to leakage, reduced core stability, and prolapse, and these are things that affect your daily life more than you realize.

The best training structure for your body right now

When I finally understood what was happening in my own body, I changed the way I train myself and my clients who are going through the same thing. Every session in my program follows a specific structure, and there is a reason for each part of it:

●      Full range of motion exercises: We start here as a warm up, to keep your joints mobile and your muscles working properly.

●      Balance training: Weak muscles increase your risk of falls, and falls lead to fractures, which are one of the most serious consequences of bone loss at this stage of life.

●      Strength training: This is the core of everything, because rebuilding muscle and strengthening your bones are the priority.

●      Pelvic floor strengthening: A weak pelvic floor leads to leakage, reduced core stability, and prolapse, and these are things that affect your daily life more than you realize.

●      Stretching: We finish here to support recovery and keep your body moving well between sessions.

This is about training designed for the body you have right now.

You are not losing your body, you are just not training it the right way yet

If you looked in the mirror recently and did not recognize what you saw, you are not imagining it and you are not failing. Your hormones are changing, and your body needs a different approach than it needed ten years ago.

I know what it takes to get your strength and your shape back, and it starts with training that is built around where you are today.

If you are in perimenopause or menopause and you are not sure where to start, book a complementary consultation and we will figure it out together.